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The Mysteries of Glass
 
 

The Mysteries of Glass [Kindle Edition]

Sue Gee
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

Print List Price: £8.99
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Product Description

Review

'This is the work of somebody profoundly connected to the countryside. The Mysteries of Glass casts its own spell, which is the essential requirement of a novel' (Daily Telegraph )

'Written with the delicate fluency of a storyteller utterly at ease with her craft' (Times Literary Supplement )

'Her work is so good it is unforgettable... Gee's books may be unashamedly romantic and sensual, but they are also so sparely written that the economy of her writing is often breathtaking... a beautiful, redemptive book' Jackie McGlone, Glasgow Herald (Jackie McGlone, Glasgow Herald )

'This exquisitely written novel transports you to the simple beauty, poignancy and hypocrisy of the Victorian era in a way that makes you feel you've been there. I cannot recommend it highly enough' (Katie Fforde )

'Profound and lyrical, it's full of light and darkness and the most marvellous description' (Shena Mackay, Observer )

Product Description

It's the winter of 1860 when Richard Allen, a young curate, travels to a small hamlet outside Hereford to take up his first position. It's in this quiet place of wind and trees, birds and water that Richard is to fall passionately in love - but he cannot find fulfilment, for his lover is Susannah Beddoes, the wife of the vicar of his new parish. As Richard's feelings challenge him to his core, he develops a strange relationship with another woman, the solitary and eccentric Edith Clare. Against the backdrop of immense social and industrial change, the consequences of Richard and Susannah's affair are dramatic as they - as well as Oliver Beddoes - grapple with doubt and what it means to lose faith when the great certainties are in question. And throughout it all, the crossing-keeper's daughter Alice Birley - an observer of incidents and events she does not fully understand - has her own part to play...

Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 557 KB
  • Print Length: 356 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0755303105
  • Publisher: Review (24 Nov 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B005SZ1ENO
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • X-Ray: Not Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #135,076 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5 stars
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully unputdownable! 28 Mar 2005
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I loved this book! I found it a wonderful demonstration of how everyday events are by far the most magical. The main characters are intensely memorable in their conciousness of the relationship that is forming between them, against all proper codes of conduct in 19th Century Britain - it illustrates perfectly that we do not choose who we love.. There are some books I guard carefully and this will certainly be one of them.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Sue Gee has created here a love story with true depth of feeling, displaying the sometimes darker side of country life in Victorian England. A melody of prose surrounds her central character, a young curate sent to assist an ailing vicar at a Herefordshire parish in the winter of 1860.

The young Richard Allen, still mourning his father's recent death, displays a genuine love for his God, his family whom he has left behind, the rural community he is to serve, and the countryside around his new basic and rustic home. However, all of his simple and profound ideals are challenged when he falls helplessly in love with a young married woman of important social standing. There is a wonderful purity and innocence to this love, and yet the young curate clearly also has a geniune talent for his vocation serving God... a very difficult predicament to be in and you can only feel sympathy for this young idealistic man.

The story is beautifully told; a compelling read. You cannot rush this book - you simply have to go with it at its own pace and I slowed my, usually quick, reading pace to appreciate this novel at its best. So much more than just another historical romance, I can recommended this novel highly.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars Too slow 2 Aug 2010
By Lovejoy
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I had previously read Sue Gee's 'Reading in Bed' and absolutely loved it. Sorry to say that 'Mysteries' was far too slow for me, and I only got to page 75 before I reluctantly had to abandon it. Surely something has to happen in 75 pages apart from endless descriptions of weather and countryside, two meals and slow discourse? On the plus side the feel of the winter and the frozen countryside WAS very well written - just a bit too much of it. Although the ethos was 'of' the mid Victorian period, writing in such a slow burning way just didn't work for this 21st century reader. Anyway, I'm in the minority so maybe I just didn't try hard enough
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars The Mysteries of Glass
I just loved this book. Although set 150 years ago, the complications of unexpected love and attachments are the same then as now. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Jane from Devon
4.0 out of 5 stars Landscape with butterflies and skylarks
A young clergyman, Richard Allen, arrives in a town on the English/Welsh borders to act as curate to the incumbent, Oliver Owen. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Clive A. H. Still
4.0 out of 5 stars Poetic and Painterly Language
An immaculately researched and beautifully written novel about a Victorian curate who is sent to a small country parish on the Welsh borders, where he falls in love with the... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Kate Hopkins
2.0 out of 5 stars plodding, predictable and unremarkable
I have to put a stop to the five-star frenzy here - this book is really not very good. I ALWAYS read right to the end of anything (and I have read some very poor stuff) but I could... Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2009 by Amy J.
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully evocative read
This is my fourth Sue Gee book and by far the best to date though I loved the others too! She writes with the bleakness of D.H.Lawrence at times. Read more
Published on 23 Aug 2009 by Ruth Snow
5.0 out of 5 stars Bewitching
There is no other word for it. From the first few pages we are drawn into a world that is exquisitely portrayed. Read more
Published on 3 April 2009 by A. Bolus
5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding read
This is a richly satisfying novel: complex characters, stunning prose, full of ideas and wonderfully shaped. Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2009 by Chaucer
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't judge this book by its insipid blue cover ...
Because it is hauntingly, beautifully written, a story of forbidden love and Victorian hypocrisy. Sue Gee's descriptions of the passing seasons in a Herefordshire country parish... Read more
Published on 20 Sep 2008 by booksetc
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful story
This is a charming book, the characters come to life from the page and the love story is gentle and incredibly romantic. I would recommend it thoroughly.
Published on 15 Aug 2008 by Alocin
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful, lyrical book
This is the first book I had read by Sue Gee and it won't be the last. I loved it. From the first page I was hooked and everything was so beautifully described that I immediately... Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2007 by Mrs. KE Melia
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